Tag: Oahu

Rey here. I’m taking over for the boss today. She’s juggling time and tasks this week and keeps dropping the ball, but not necessarily coz she’s clumsy. She’s just . . . time deficient, I think Linda might call it.

Speaking of, Linda’s taking a week of holidays and is heading to Maui tomorrow with a couple of surfer buddies. No, there’s no romance brewing or anything like that. She’s still off guys since her ex-boyfriend Makjo ran off with a bride last year. At least she’s not making any more voodoo dolls; they were so creeping me out.

And speaking of boyfriends, JJ’s sailing with that “sometimes” boyfriend, Cash aka Richie J (undercover agent – drug dealer). They have the weirdest relationship. I don’t get it. Come to that, I don’t think JJ gets it, either. She’ll figure it out one day. I hope.

Me? I’m minding the agency today. Have a few calls and emails to return. We’re still wrapping up our latest project, the one we gals at The Triple Threat Investigation Agency have started calling The Forever Poi Case. You’ll be able to read about it—if the boss can stop dropping those balls—come end of November.

I feel for her. She’s got so many ideas, and so many dreams, but they’re not doable given her situation right now. Let’s just keep the faith for her.

On this end, I can’t complain about a thing. Life—and work—on Oahu is awesome. I’m so-o glad we moved here. Sure, things aren’t perfect, but nothing in life is. We just accept things as they come and do the best . . . and, if necessary, juggle, juggle, juggle. If one of those bleepin’ balls falls, we pick it up and start all over again. It’s all good, JJ would say. I totally concur.

The aspiring detectives of the Triple Threat Investigation Agency take on their first official paying assignment: discover an elderly millionaire’s
young wife’s secret. It seems straightforward enough—until the wife is found dead in the sapphire Hawaiian oceanside. As Jill (JJ), Rey and Linda strive to
uncover the killer amid a cast of curious, unconventional characters,
they stumble across several secrets . . . and trip over a few bodies.

Sleuthing proved so much fun in The Connecticut Corpse Caper thatJJ, Rey, and Linda have set up shop as private eyes on the lovely island of Oahu. They’re the proud and excited owners of the Triple Threat Investigation Agency.

Can You Hula like Hilo Hattie? is the first official [paying] case: discover the secret of WP Howell’s young pretty wife, Carmie. Millions, and a much-desired divorce, rest on it.

What seems straightforward quickly becomes complicated when Carmie’s battered body is found in the Hawaiian Pacific. It quickly becomes evident that she wasn’t the only one with a secret . . . nor the only one to die an untimely death. Who among a cast of curious, unconventional characters is tenacious (or crazy) enough to eliminate all living liabilities?

In the quest for answers, JJ, Rey and Linda encounter a plethora of suspects on a winding road of many detours—where drug dealers and informants, treachery and blackmail, abound.

Brash young Benny Pohaku, working both sides of the drug-pushing fence, ticks off the wrong people. Dealer Cash Layton Jones is as galling as he is attractive, and his habit of entering JJ’s condo uninvited results in a few heated encounters.

Carmie’s intriguing if not odd ‘tini friends serve as pieces to an expanding puzzle. Down-and-out musician, Jon Jonson, had been blackballed by Carmie. Being unceremoniously dumped could serve as a motive for murder for former lover and trainer Stacy Kapu. And restaurant co-manager, Benoit Paillisson, had always had a hate-hate relationship with her.

There’s also Carmie’s twin, Gino Carpella, who’s been rumored to associate with questionable sorts. Had the rift in the siblings’ once close-knit relationship played a part in Carmie’s death? Or had one of Gino’s enemies retaliated by striking out at his closest family member?

No love is lost when it comes to hubby WP Howell. Was Carmie’s “secret” damaging enough to prompt the man to kill?

The Triple Threat trio finds the case as clear as the contaminated waters of the Ala Wai Canal. Fortunately, they have patience and perseverance . . . and occasional assistance from Detective Gerald Ives.

As the body count increases and the suspect list decreases, the women discover the murderer’s identity. And while major incidents are explained, a few loose ends (and cannons) remain. These will be addressed, but not necessarily [yet] tied up in the third novel, Coco’s Nuts. JJ, Rey and Linda are budding detectives, after all, and they still have lessons to learn and skills to hone.